I almost forgot that it's 4:00 in the morning as I'm typing this. Anyway, yesterday I finished a book titled Bait. I loved this book even though there were some dull moments. It is a YA book that focuses on as topic that many teens face everyday.

The main character in the book, Diego is dealing with anger issues. REALLY BAD anger issues. He fights a lot and one day his fighting goes to far and he ends up on probation. This story details Diego learning how to let go of his anger and how to forgive with the help of his probation officer.

This book was enjoyable to me because I could relate to Diego. I endured some of the same problems that he did. I even cried while reading this book!

The author used great characterization when writing this book. It was easy for me to feel Diego's pain as the book revealed the situation.

I give this book a 4.5 out of 5. I say a 4.5 because the lesson that Mr. Sanchez was trying to teach with the shark didn't really capture me. I understood it in the beginning so I didn't see a reason for it to keep being repeated. All in all, you should give this book a try if you enjoy books with a purpose.

Bait is such an awesome standalone novel!

It tells the story of Diego who was sent to probation after punching a guy. There, he meets Mr. Vidas as his probation officer. He eventually learned a lot of things from him and that lead to him, exposing the darkest secrets he buried deep which, eventually, helped him to change.

I literally could have finished this book in a day as it was such an exciting read. Unfortunately, I was so tired and wasn't able to finish it. This book is a total page-turner. I was so curious about the secret that Diego had to bury. The only irritating thing was the mention of secrets in some of the sentences in the beginning of the novel without further explanations. Hell, as if it wasn't going to be explained later? Duh.

I liked Diego and couldn't believe how his life has been such a hell. Boy, who would've thought a guy like him suffered a lot in his life? The death of his grandmother and stepdad and the disappearance of his real dad. All that plus a quite-ignoring mom and the fact that his stepdad molested him, luckily, he got himself a stepbrother who he really look up to him and he cares about him, too. The point is he got a lot on his plate and worse, he couldn't control his anger. Fortunately, Diego is willing to become a better person and by the help of Mr. Vidas, he's slowly learn to behave and most importantly, changed to a better person.

Letting go and forgiving are two things that I found which affected me so immensely. I mean, those two things are so hard to do and yet, I'm inspired by Diego's courage. He's a lovely character, that's for sure.

This book is a hell of a journey and will draw you to read Alex Sanchez's other novels, probably.

It's not that I thought the content matter didn't matter. Diego was sexually assaulted by his stepfather (not a spoiler...it was a supposed to be a plot twist but was very obvious). I am not sure if this book was intended for teenagers, but it just seemed so young. The shark imagery was overdone. I also wasn't a huge fan of the probation officer, Mr. Vidas, telling Diego that he needed a therapist and acknowledged he wasn't qualified but then proceeded to do some pretty intense therapy with Diego and then things were all better. I just think there are probably better books out there to deal with this topic.

Once again Alex Sanchez has written an amazing novel. 'Bait' had me on the brink of tears several times. A truly powerful book.

Posted at Shelf Inflicted

Diego is a good kid. He studies hard, he takes care of his little brother, Eddie, and most of the time he minds his mom. Diego gets in trouble when he punches a gay classmate after he looks at him funny and winds up on probation.

Distrustful of his probation officer at first, Diego eventually opens up and reveals painful details about his past. Vidas is patient and understanding, and after a few sessions, he learns that there are very serious issues hiding under Diego’s angry exterior. Vidas functions more as a therapist, helping Diego learn to manage his anger, accept himself, and learn to trust others.

This was a fast-paced and easy read, but the story dealt with a lot of serious subjects which were handled very sensitively. I liked Diego a lot and wanted him to stay out of trouble. The secondary characters were believable and well developed – Kenny, his best friend, Ariel, a girl in school he had a crush on, his mom, and his stepfather.

A powerful, compelling, and emotionally evocative story with a very hopeful ending.

Highly recommended!

I almost forgot that it's 4:00 in the morning as I'm typing this. Anyway, yesterday I finished a book titled Bait. I loved this book even though there were some dull moments. It is a YA book that focuses on as topic that many teens face everyday.

The main character in the book, Diego is dealing with anger issues. REALLY BAD anger issues. He fights a lot and one day his fighting goes to far and he ends up on probation. This story details Diego learning how to let go of his anger and how to forgive with the help of his probation officer.

This book was enjoyable to me because I could relate to Diego. I endured some of the same problems that he did. I even cried while reading this book!

The author used great characterization when writing this book. It was easy for me to feel Diego's pain as the book revealed the situation.

I give this book a 4.5 out of 5. I say a 4.5 because the lesson that Mr. Sanchez was trying to teach with the shark didn't really capture me. I understood it in the beginning so I didn't see a reason for it to keep being repeated. All in all, you should give this book a try if you enjoy books with a purpose.

I wish I could give this 3 1/2 stars. At times, I could definitely tell it was written by a counselor, but overall pretty good. I think this was the first time I'd read about book about an abused, cis-gendered, straight boy (in comparsion to my high school- although really always- obsession with reading about girls/queers dealing with abuse, rape, drugs, etc.). I could relate to Diego, especially as someone who use to cut. It still always pisses me off when people demand that other stop self harm (lack of control leads to such behavior, telling someone that they can't do it again is counter productive)- and I felt like Vidas, the probation officer, should have known better then to have said that (considering his actions in the book)- but I did think the dicussions that happened after Diego cut again were good. Some of the actions/writing seemed a little forced, but overall good.

Another great read by Alex Sanchez!

Normally I read just at night or on by breaks at work, but I found myself putting aside my laptop to read more of this. Which didn't last long because it is a very quick read, despite being 240-ish pages.

I enjoyed the characters, though I would have preferred to not have Vidas' 'secret' revealed in the chapter that we first meet him. I would have loved to have found out with Diego. Because I knew about it, I was braced for the whole book, just waiting for Diego to find out and the explosion, so it didn't have as much of an impact as it could have. The only thing that kept this from 5 stars was that and the double team that happened with Diego's mom toward the end, when Diego came clean to her. That was so uncomfortable and didn't seem quite right.

I could easily see this as a movie. The part with Diego facing his demons at sea. It was so realistic!

And I am glad that there was a hug! Another thing I had been expecting for half the book ;)